Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee Makes Its Submission on the Research Quality Framework and Asks Dr Nelson to Take Heed. (October 14, 2005)

    Just over a month ago the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Brendan Nelson, released a 25 page document which is in reality a framework for a "preferred model" for a Research Quality Framework: Assessing the quality and impact of research in Australia.

According to Dr Nelson, "Once implemented, the RQF will provide the Australian Government with the basis for redistributing research funding to ensure that areas of the highest quality of research are rewarded. This will involve all of the Institutional Grants Scheme (IGS) and at least fifty per cent of the Research Training Scheme (RTS)."

Whether or not the exercise or the creation of such a framework makes any sense is a moot point. The most research savvy nation on the planet, the United States, does not have one and shows no signs of considering one.

The Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) has now made public its Response to the EAG’s [Expert Advisory Group to Dr Nelson] Preferred Model in a series of overall recommendations and a second set directed toward Brendan Nelson as Minister for Education, Science and Training.

So far Dr Nelson has made no public response.